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tv   Special Report With Bret Baier  FOX News  September 20, 2012 3:00pm-4:00pm PDT

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>> dana: name three favorite belgians? >> greg: waffles. >> bob: van gogh. >> dana: i think french fries are -- >> how many expenses would greg be fined under the same rules? >> andrea: wait, bob? >> eric: we to have go. thank you for watching "the five." see you tomorrow. >> bret: after a week of denials, it's now self-evident to the obama administration the deadly attack on the american consulate in libya was terrorism. it took more than a week. countless denials, clarification and swin. president obama white house now says it's self-evident that the september 11 assault on the american consulate in libya was indeed terrorism.
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anti-americanism continues to burn in middle east. president is playing a game of catch-up. the president's answer on direct answer to suggest raised eyebrows today. catherine herridge has been in contract sources all day but we start with ed henry traveling with the president. just outside miami. >> reporter: good evening. administration's account keeps changing and they admitted that nine days later this is a terror attack on president obama's watch. flip-flop from jay carney, 24 hours after he repeatedly claimed it was too soon to determine whether the murder of four americans with terrorism. >> our interest is finding out the facts of what happened. not taking what we read in the newspaper and making bold assertion. >> reporter: today, carney decided to boldly assert.
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>> i think it's self-evident that what happened in benghazi was terrorist attack. >> not self-evident on sunday when susan rice went on five morning talk shows to insist it was likely caused by spontaneous anger over anti-muslim film. >> the best information and the best assessment we have today, in fact this was not a preplanned, premeditated attack. >> on monday, newland stuck to rice's script. >> i won't put labels on this until we have investigation. >> you don't regard it as act of terrorism? >> i don't think we know of. >> tuesday, newland walked back earlier claim that there were no libyan security guards inside the perimeter of the u.s. consulate. the white house, carney ducked. >> you're not saying there is enough security in benghazi are you? >> this is a matter under investigation. >> later, president obama
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wednesday to fundraiser co-hosted by beyonce and jay-z. >> bringing them to justice is the number one priority. >> certainly on that particular question i'd say yes, they were killed in the course of a terrorist attack on embassy. >> republican romney camp is pouncing on nbc/"wall street journal" poll that finds approval of the handling of president's foreign policy slipped to 49%. >> are we more influential around the world than we were four years ago? we simply are not. >> obama campfires back in addition to the president taking out key al-qaeda leaders romney weighed in too soon on the violence. >> there was an interview with univision and whether the security was good enough, president did not answer and focused on the anti-muslim film. >> where there is an offensive
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video or cartoon directed at the prophet muhammad. this is something that is used as an excuse by some. to carry out inexcusable violent acts. >> they say this was not a significantly preplanned attack. the keyword "significantly preplanned" but he said there may have been various elements in the attack. >> more on intelligence in a second but we are hearing the u.s. government is set to dole out $70,000 to air a commercial on pakistani tv denouncing that anti-muslim video. what can you tell us about that? >> state department confirming that tonight, the commercial includes president clinton and secretary of state hillary clinton denouncing the anti-muslim fill new mexico english but dubbed in urdu as
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well. so it will have an impact on pakistan. they believe this is the bost way to calm down the storm. john mccain is saying they have a fundamental misunderstanding of the situation. he says islamists push people the violence and that is the problem. >> bret: ed henry traveling with the president in miami. thank you. now the latest intelligence on the man thought to be behind the benghazi attack. here is chief intelligence correspondent catherine herridge. >> this is believed to be the most recent picture of sufyan bin qumu taken after his release from libyan jail in 2010. fox news bret baier was first to report wednesday intelligence sources believed the coordinated commando style attack on the consulate in benghazi is tied to al-qaeda. and they believe that qumu, a former guantanamo bay detainee may be the driving force behind the assault. the 53-year-old libyan jihaddist was transferred out of the detention camp in 2007 by the bush administration, to custody of former libyan
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dictator muammar gaddafi, who released him three years later in a reported effort to appease islamists. >> we have seen instances in iraq a afghanistan and pakistan, where former detainees have been involved in planning, and executing attack against americans. against american abroad. this is a big concern. >> reporter: the libyan has known ties to the training network that date to 1993. his name was also found on the laptop of el hasawi, aed money man for the 9/11 plot now awaiting his military trial. former spokesman at guantanamo under the bush administration says about one in three detainees who are transferred out of the camp returned to the battlefield. >> these things never left guantanamo, but the reason they left we have pressure from the democrats in congress, including then senator obama and the national community.
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>> speaking to reporters this morning, secretary of state clinton said she is expanding the investigation. >> the team from the f.b.i. reached libya this week. iill advice congress also i am launching a accountability review board. that will be chaired by ambassador thomas pickerring. >> later in the day, members of congress briefed by clinton and the director of national intelligence on the assault by terrorists. >> they are attempting to establish whether he was kegged to people who made the attack. she a person of interest if you will. >> the story now has been changed. there was a planned premeditated attack. when we put our people around the world, at risk and don't provided a quite security. shame on us. >> the ambassador says the two seals killed in benghazi were there to protect them bass dore. >> two of the four americans were killed were there
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providing security. >> the two seals were in libya working for separate agency. they responded when they heard the gun fire and they killed themselves. >> bret: the decision to release gupta from gitmo was the bush administration. but the bigger story may be the presence of al-qaeda in libya and how strong they may be. >> what we have discussed before that al-qaeda has the franchise operations specifically in north africa. when we talk about someone like qumu what we are look at is not only hqim but the libyan islamist fighting group. i know speaking to my contacts today, they look at the makeshift camp that sprung up in eastern libya that may be training jihaddist. not only for attack in country but syria as well. >> bret: we will continue to follow it.
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thank you. president obama hope and change exend to the american flag? that is later in the grapevin grapevine. first, what undecided voters say about why they're undecided in ohio. [ mother ] you can't leave the table till you finish your vegetables. [ clock ticking ] [ male announcer ] there's a better way... v8 v-fusion. vegetable nutrition they need, fruit taste they love. could've had a v8... vegetable nutrition they need, fruit taste they love. [ "human" by the human league playing ]
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>> bret: now to the presidential campaign. the contest has a latin rith them week. both candidates are quoting the hispanic vote in florida. chief political correspondent carl cameron is in sarasota with mitt romney. >> reporter: both president obama and mitt romney hit florida today. romney trying to get back on offense and blasted the president for saying years ago he believes in redistribution of resources through government. >> came out talking about how he likes redistribution. i know there are some people in this country think the government's role is take some and give to others. i'm not talking about the evident to care for those that need.
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we are compassionate and we care for those with needs to get them on their feet. he wants to redistribute. >> one day after criticizing the president, at unany vision candidate forum for not even introducing immigration reform bill, mr. obama fired back. >> he would veto the dream act and then he is uncertain about what his plan for immigration reform would be. considers the arizona law model for the nation and suggested that the main reason for immigration is deportation. >> romney insists he will get immigration done. >> said in primary campaign we're not going to round up 12 million people. the system isn't to deport people. >> president went after romney for saying in may that the 47% of people who don't pay tax think of themselves as victims. >> if you express an attitude that half the country considers itself victims that somehow they want to be
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dependent on government, my thinking is maybe you haven't gotten around a lot. >> romney is addressing hit the way. >> this is a campaign over 100%. you see greater device iness the country. we hope to come back together but instead you see us pull apart. politics has driven us apart in some respects. my campaign is about the 100% in america. i'm concerned about them. >> he recalled his father at a rally to show he is not hostile to those needing government aid. >> my dad had to gettal help, financial help. the government helped the family get on their feet again. that's the way america works. we have big hearts. we care for people and get them back and lift them up. we don't make at it permanent lifestyle. >> florida, the latest fox news poll shows romney trailing president obama among hispanics 58 to 37%. president's lead among latinos nationwide is bigger. romney tried to joke about healthcare but called
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compliment what most republicans is the curse. >> now a then obama said i'm grandfather of obamacare. i don't think he meant it as a compliment but i'll take it. >> romney aids dismiss shakeup of shakeup that it works and dropping out of the race last year. romney's dip in most polls have the republicans fretting. the last time an incumbent democrat is outed, 1980. jimmy carter is ahead by bigger margins at this point and ronald reagan won. >> president obama today said he can't change washington from the inside. romney jumped on it like a loose football saying the slogan used to be we can change. now he says i can't do it. furthering suggests that obama made proms and not able to deliver them at all. look for big flash point on this subject days ahead. >> bret: more with this on the panel. thank you. men on the republican
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presidential ticket will take bus tour of ohio next week. no republican ever won the white house without ohio. tonight we listen to undecided voters in buckeye state. >> ohio is important. i don't know why. >> important because john f. kennedy was the last to lose ohio and win presidency. with conservative and liberals enfrenched, emphasis falls to the small percentage of the undecided voters to award ohio 18 electoral votes. political analyst rick robinson said most undecided votersal a narrow demographic. pra and under. earning less than $75,000 a year. predominantly female. concentrated in cincinnati. they court aggressively on the airwaves and campaign motorcades are a frequent site. >> i know a lot of folks around here now. i heard them is a if they get held up on traffic by a detail going back to airport one more time, they change the vote. >> rus belt state like ohio,
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issues related to manufacturing jobs are a key importance to voters. emphasis from the obama campaign fell flat. >> i thought it would be saving for jobs. but it didn't pan out that way. >> 233,000 jobs disappeared from the buckeye state since 2008. current unemployment rate is around a point lower than the national average. we met kara who voted for president obama last election and disillusioned because she is out of work for a year. she is turned off by romney's recent choice of words. >> i need to say because i didn't pay taxes because i was out of work. at home taking care of my children. it doesn't mean i'm not important. >> phone policy is playing a role in ohio. republican ads suggest the obama administration did not stand up to china and sacrifice jobs. alan warner is unsatisfied with the handling of the riot in mideast.
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fairly muted response. i think it needs to be a firmer response. i don't think it needs to be an extreme response. >> in addition to winning the undecided vote, the romney campaign thinks it can win democrats in the east and southeast parts of the state. that's coal country. in a campaign. emphasizing the president green agenda saying it's unfriendly to coal jobs. bret? >> bret: mike tobin in columbus. thank you. still ahead, the democratic candidate for senate makes a amazing statement. up next, trying to keep the work in welfare to work. ♪ why not make lunch more than just lunch? with two times the points on dining in restaurants, you may find yourself asking why not, a lot. chase sapphire preferred. there's more to enjoy.
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>> bret: the number of able-bodied adults on food stamps nearly doubled after the obama administration lifted a key work requirement.
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the congressional research service said after the rule was suspended it surged from 1.9 million to 3.9 million. that's what house republicans are trying to avoid on a largeer scale. about an hour ago we received the results of a rare vote in congress, formal motion to disapprove the recent moves by the obama administration to offer more waivers. this time, in the welfare program. chief washington correspondent jim angle has the latest. >> reporter: after impassioned debate house voted to disapprove actions by health and human services sewn as waiverring the welfare work requirement. the g.o.p. went in tooted's vote armed with two reports in the government accountability office. >> when previous h.h.s . secretaries were asked about the possibility of waiving work requirements, h.h.s . responded that, and i quote, "the department does not have authority toway any of the provisions." >> in addition to saying h.h.s. lacks the legal
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authority to waive work requirement, g.a.o. issued a second finding saying no previous h.h.s . under president of either party claimed the right to waive it. saying, "h.h.s. has never before granted waivers of program rules. h.h.s. has previously told states no waiver authority existed, only the obama administration has claimed this authority." the two parties had very different views of the debate. >> the we're here today to head off at the pass president obama and the administration attempt to gut the welfare reform work requirement. >> this debate isn't about process or even policy. it's about politics. pure poll sicks. impure politics. >> what started this was a july 19 memorandum against h.h.s. where it claimed it had the authority to waive compliance and allows states to try other message. democrats note kathleen sebelius pledged to only approve waivers that would increase the number working. >> they can get a waiver of
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the rule in the welfare law if and only if they move more people from welfare to work than otherwise would have done. >> republicans say it could be done without waiving the work requirement. democrats argue states such as utah ask for waivers but utah only asks for waivers from reporting requirements which said was draining the resources from putting people to work, not the work requirement, itself. conservative lawmakers see this as a power grab. >> this president has repeatedly said if congress won't do it, i will do it alone. >> this is the answer to that is no, sir you will not. you will not do it alone. >> 19 democrats joined in signaling administration it cannot change the law without coming to congress. >> thank you. >> applications for unemployment benefits dipped by 3,000 last week. mortgage rates have also fallen. the 30-year fixed rate tied a record low of 3.49.
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the 15-year fix plunged to 2 hadn't 77, record low. stocks were mixed today. dow gained 19. s&p 500 lost 1. nasdaq fell 7. house republicans are taking whacks on obama administration in wake of scathing report of operation "fast and furious." it faulted the justice department for misguided strategies, errors in judgment and management failures in the gun tracking program. today, the man who wrote the report spoke to house committee. >> operation fast and furious we found no one responsible for the case at the phoenix field division or atf quarterbacks or the u.s. attorney office raised serious question or concern about the government not taking earlier measures to disrupt a firearm trafficking operation. >> the house and senate lawmakers are wrapping up quick session to take break from campaigning or resting but they aren't leaving
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without displaying the exact behavior so many people are finding upsetting. molly henneberg show us from capitol hill. >> before they recess in a couple of days until after the election, come parting shots from senate leaders. >> first, from the top senate republican. >> we have got multiple crisis level issues to deal with. yet our democratic friends don't want to do a thing. >> then the top senate democrat. >> we know what the senate republicans have done here. filibustering on everything. >> the to-do is long. they need to tack the $16 trillion deficit. federal budget. looming sequestration. that is massive cuts to domestic and defense programs if congress can't get the spending under control. aspiring bush tax cut. the farm bill. and the transportation bill just to name a few. >> senate republicans charge that democrats are not serious
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about passing legislation. >> democrat-controlled senate deliberately chosen inaction. why? because over the past two years, democratic senate has seen itself as an extension of the president re-election campaign. rather than a forum forking the nation's problems. >> senate democrats say when they do get a bill passed it is held up in the g.o.p.-controlled house. >> it takes two chambers to pass aa low on the other side, too many congress members think compromise is a dirty word. >> which side is compromising more one capital hill watcher says. it depends on what wins the white house and controls congress in november. that may break is congressional stalemate. >> they can't get a deal until speak have spoken. whatever the votes say. that is the key thing.
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they sid we're paralyzed until we have the election to see who the winer is. >> maybe later than that. he says that congress may pass short-term fixes to get us to next year. senator reed said he does not favor that approach. but let president obama or president romney and the new congress figure it out. bret? >> bret: thank you. head of the united nations advocates breaking u.n. policy. president obama puts his own stamp on the flag. grapevine is next. ♪ [ male announcer ] introducing a stunning work of technology. rely new lexus es. and the first-ever es hybrid. this is the pursuit of perfection.
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>> bret: now fresh pickings from the political grapevine. controversial new item at the obama campaign store. design is called r-stripes and replaces the flag blue field of stars with the obama campaign logo. the campaign explains it this way: "the poster is to say there are no red states or blue states, only the united states." social media sites exploded today. here are a couple of tweets from the republican party chairman reince priebus. obama states of america? wow. >> blogger michelle malcon. "ho, say can you see, obama's new miles per hour flag. narcissist in chief strikes again. unbelievable." a mid-speech flip-flop at the-up from secretary general ban ki-moon. he first defended freedom of expression when asked about the controversial anti-islam film.
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"all human beings have the inalienable right to freedom of expression." but then he said, "when some use freedom of expression to humiliate others' values and belief it can not be protected." besides contradicting himself he goes against the universal declaration of human rights that freedom to hold opinions without interference, and to seek and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. finally a new yorker's last ditch effort to save his gas station problem that is for the birds. the control spring planning board you see won't let a local businessman build dunkin' donuts drive-through because among other issues, it might bother bald eagles' nests several miles away. do the eagles run on dunkin'? an expert said they don't. they don't eat doughnuts.
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every once in a while a candidate goes off script and says something unexpect and that happened in the virginia senate race. mike emanuel was there. >> reporter: at the first of three debates this the final week of the virginia senate race, former governor kaine was asked about romney's comment about the 47% of americans who don't pay federal income taxes. >> i would be open to proposal that had a minimum tax for everyone but i insist many of the 47% that governor romney is going after pay a higher percentage in their taxes than he does. >> after the debate, his opponent pounced on the minimum tax level comment. >> it's typical of tim kaine. his record is one looking to raise taxes. >> after that, i asked kaine to clarify the state fire department the debate. >> mighde -- statement from the debate. >> i don't believe you start with a pledge to allegiance no
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tax ever. he wants to keep the tax cut for those earning $250,000 a year. republicans favor extent the cut. this is allen's response to kaine's plan. >> i guess you didn't do analysis on the so-called plan would do to jobs. before you from pose anything you should take in account the impact on jobs. an our oklahoma, a major concern. >> both men are well-known with allen running for statewide office for the fourth time. kaine is in his third virginia race. >> it is really unusual. the reason this is unusual both candidates recognized by over 795% of the not -- 95% of the potential voters. there is very little give. in the electorate.
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the polls have been tied for 17 months until now. fox news poll of likely voters give democrat kaine is four-point advantage over allen but within the poll's margin of error. >> the campaign is hoping that cape cape's tax issue will move the poll in their favor. >> bret: mike emanuel live in virginia. mike, thank you. the white house now admits the 9/11 anniversary attack in libya was terrorism. we'll talk about that. and the back and forth with the fox all-stars when we come back.
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this is a fairly volatile situation, in response not to united states policy, it's in response to a video.
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>> does the united states government regard what happened in benghazi as an act of terror? >> again, i am not going to put labels on this until we have a complete investigation. okay? >> so you don't regard it as act of terrorism? >> i don't think we know enough. >> self-evident what happened was an attack. >> bret: after a week of back and forth. you saw a couple examples and many more from the administration. not saying this was a terrorist attack. now it's self-evident according to jay carney on the air force one, as you could hear there. what about this and the libya attack on the consulate that killed ambassador chris stevens? steve hayes, for "weekly standard." charles lane, opinion writer for the "washington post."
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jonah goldberg, at large eder to for national review online. this panel is the goatee panel. charles krauthammer, by the way, everyone will be back in the house tomorrow. no offense, jonah. >> none taken. >> steve, your thoughts on this and where the administration has been and where it is today? >> jay carney is trying to say they always thought it was a terrorist attack. of course it was terrorist attack by the description you have given. but we have seen they didn't always acknowledge it's a terrorist attack. they're still not giving on the claim they made, they staked their argument on that this was spontaneous. this was just people who got riled up and picked up the rpgs and decided to commit this attack. >> i talk to the folks in the intelligence world today who said this is virtually nobody thinks this was spontaneous anymore. the only people making that
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argument are administration officials. obama political appointees. the word used is fiasco. this looks like fiasco going down. the biggest news coming out of the last 24 hours after you reported possible involvement of this former gitmo detainee. >> bret: the guy sufyan bin qumu. we have a new picture of a guy let go of gitmo in 2007. >> the news in the last 24 hours after that is existence of the report prepared bay pentagon counter terrorism group. first reported by my colleague tom jofflin at the "weekly standard" that says this is what we're seeing in libya right now is the deliberate plan of al-qaeda central. this is the al-qaeda central leadershiership. encouraging the splinter group, jihadist group, in libya giving them strategic
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guidance to grow. what this report says, which came out in august, this is a growing threat. threat that the united states government must take seriously. >> bret: chuck? >> well, you know, libya's own leader actually said a few days ago it's preposterous to suggest it wasn't premeditated. >> bret: let me interrupt you. the administration response to that is we have more access to collecting data on the ground than he does. libyan's president. that was the response to libyan's president. now they are saying from the white house podium, air force one it's self-evident it was terrorists. >> i was saying that because trying to think of reasons why they would go to length not to call it a terrorist attack. one might not be to offend the host councilmember, we know that can't be the reason. libbia, itself, saying it's probably premeditated. so you've got to conclude they don't want to call it terrorist attack for another reason. the other reason i would think they don't want to say
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"terrorism" is happening in last six weeks of presidential campaign. >> on american soil. the first attack we had on american soil. >> bret: technically, because it was the u.s. consulate. the first ambassador to be killed since 1979. it was an attack on 9/11. the 11th anniversary. it's a big, big deal. >> big deal. >> also they for reasons that i think we all agree are somewhat mysterious they put susan rice out to make something of a fool of herself. >> bret: she was on five, i think it's five sunday shows. there you see the shot. she went around and the story changed a little bit. but basically the same it was this spontaneous group in benghazi. it got out of control and evolved and turned deadly. >> in fairness, i'm sure the fairness who attacked didn't like the video but i don't think that is the issue. this was a premeditated terrorist attack. there is so much confirmation of that now.
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the only benefit of the doubt i can give is they lock themselves to such -- they really did shoot first and aim later with this response. not just, maybe not obama but the entire administration. now they are trying figure out how to walk back from it without looking like they jumped the gun. i don't know how they do that. >> bret: the president was asked about this today. do we have the sound bite? we don't have it yet. was asked about it in univision specifically. why wasn't your administration better prepared with more security? at the consulate? it was a long, long answer. he didn't ever answer the question. he came back to what we have seen over the last week, week-and-a-half is something we have seen in the past. offensive video. cartoon. directed at the prophet muhammad. came back to the video and said he is concerned about security an he redoubled effort around the world at embassy and consulates after
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that. what about that? >> i found his answer absolutely extraordinary. this is the president of the united states still complaining about the video. nobody believes it was about the video. beyond that the obama administration is running ads as we reported in pakistan, distancing the u.s. government from the video. who has done more than the u.s. government than obama administration to give this video exposure? first you had the tweets and the statement from the u.s. embassy in cairo. run of the mill gathering protest. outside the embassy, there are protests all the time. there were reports that other egyptians in tahrir square were sitting and drinking coffee. this was information operation to have the protest on pretext of getting angry about the video with the hope it turnsin . now what we have done by having the president of the united states talk about it and the secretary of state. putting out statements. now putting out advertisements in pakistan.
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we have done what they want us to do. we have given it all the attention it could possibly get. >> bret: we're spending $70,000 in pakistan. >> the president said in fairness they're exploiting the video. right? they are exploiting the terror, more violent people or whatever it was what he called them are exploiting the situation. >> bret: use as excuse to carry out inexcusable violent acts which is not the same thing. >> context of it is barack obama is essentially saying my policies are right. we've done evening right. everything right. we couldn't anticipate the spontaneous problem. it comes from having free expression in our own country. we did nothing wrong. >> bret: i am not usually one to harp, but yesterday the head of the national counter terrorism center up on capitol hill open hearing says it is terrorism and was a terrorist attack. there were developments yesterday, let alope what we
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reported and put it aside. this is the "new york times." not one story in the "new york times" about libya. let alone terrorism angle. not a story in here about libya. this seems strange. i don't know. am i wrong? >> the newspaper of record ought to have a story. the administration narrative here is collapsing. it doesn't work anymore. nobody believes it. you did have some other outlet, reuters had a tough piece saying what the administration arguing is at odds with what we now know to be factual at odds with what the administration claimed. cbs news followed up with a report that fox had three days earlier, that there were, in fact, no protests in benghazi. just didn't happen. cbs news reported that today as well. >> bret: i should point out i would have held up the "washington post" but you had a libya story. >> i was going to say. >> bret: you are all good. >> somebody stick up for "the post." >> bret: next up 2012 and how it factors in. keep it here.
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i think i learned lessons in the last four years and the most important lesson i learned is that you can't change washington from the inside. you can only change it from the outside. >> president of the united states says he can't change washington from the inside. isn't that amazing? no wonder he has had a hard time in the last four years. his first two years he had a democrat house, democrat senate, he got to do whatever he wanted to, but he says he can't change it from the inside. well, i. will i will get the job done. we'll change washington. restore the economic strength we need to put people back to work. >> bret: mitt romney pouncing on a statement in
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that interview with unany vision today by president obama. back with the panel. chuck, is mitt romney kind of getting fire, turnal things around? >> finally president obama gave him something to work with. that was probably not the most persuasive comment he made since becoming other things. it does raise inference you couldn't get the job done. what is interesting is part that wasn't shone is the president went to continue an explain things that show how you get it done from the outside. one example is the success in passing healthcare. that was done from arm twis twisting. it was not his most convincing moment. >> bret: are the sands shif shifting? we have seen the poll and the
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battle group assessment. is there a change or a first debate that the next marker? >> the first debate is the next big marker. there is a lot of churning going on in the polls right now. another thing that wasn't in clip that will hurt him, he said my biggest mistake was not passing comprehensive immigration reform. >> bret: to unan univision. >> yes. so we can defend "it"'s naked pandering but the clip exists. this guy is waking up every morning to create job and fix economy. he said the one big mistake he had commanding control of congress, to not pass immigration reform. he didn't introduce immigration reform. >> this open is an opening for the reform. i talked to scott walker after he won recall election he said he wanted romney to run so it's not about republican but about being a reformer. he is a conservative reformer. make the argument.
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he stumbled in the argument. he did it inartfully. but he can pick up on that. run as a reformer and change election like president did if 2008. >> bret: give credit to univision folks. there were tough questions. they were pointed. followups. a good exchange. >> maybe that is why the president was kind of off his game. the "r" after romney's name right now stands for restart. he keeps restarting i'm not as sold as this notion that the polls are turning. i think polls are pretty steadily drifting the president's way. most importantly on his approval rating that started to pick up. bounce after the convention was strong for him. he is in the lead in swing states including the fox polls that have come out. the restart better start quick if it is going to happen. >> bret: that is it for the panel. stay tuned to see soot
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controversy that has people fired up.
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>> finally, you talk about people weighing in about a controversial issue. twitter blew up sunday with complaints over the nfl referee lockout. there were bad calls out there on the field, according to thousands and thousands of fans. it seems like the replacement refs may have been having a tough time getting used to the big leagues. >> okay, dumb question, but what is this? [ laughter ] >> strike three, you're out! >> i do not know any of these official gestures of a real referee.

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